How to pronounce the OW sound /aʊ/
/aʊ/ is a diphthong — a vowel that glides, moving low front to back-rounded (glide). Open the jaw wide and start on an 'ah'. Glide the tongue back and up toward the 'oo' of 'food'.
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How to make it
- 1Open the jaw wide and start on an 'ah'.
- 2Glide the tongue back and up toward the 'oo' of 'food'.
- 3Round the lips as you move — you should feel them close into a ring.
- 4Do not stop on the first half: 'town' would become 'tarn'.
- Lips
- Start open and flat, then round tightly.
- Tongue
- Starts low and central, glides up and back.
- Jaw
- Starts wide open, closes through the glide.
Feel it
Put a hand flat on your throat and say the sound. It should buzz under your fingers from the very start — if the buzz only arrives with the vowel, you are making the voiceless version.Where the sound appears
Keeping it through a whole line
How did the brown cow get out of our house?
They found a crowd downtown about an hour ago.
Minimal pairs to drill
Each of these is two words separated by exactly one sound. If a listener hears the wrong one, the problem is the contrast, not the effort.
If your first language is…
Nothing here is about ability. Every one of these is a sound system doing exactly what it was built to do, applied to a language that asks for something else.
- HindiUrdu
Hindi and Urdu have an au-type vowel, so it transfers reasonably; the English version starts lower and ends more rounded.
- Mandarin
Mandarin has an ao diphthong very close to this one, so it transfers well.
- Japanese
Japanese has an a plus u sequence, but the u is unrounded, so the rounded ending is missing.
- Korean
Korean has an au glide, so it transfers reasonably well.
- Vietnamese
Vietnamese has an au diphthong, so it transfers well.
- Spanish
Spanish has an au sequence, so this transfers well; both halves are given equal weight where English leans on the first.
- French
French has no aʊ diphthong — its ou is a single vowel — so the glide has to be added.
- German
German has this diphthong in 'Haus', so it transfers well.
- Italian
Italian has an au sequence, so it transfers, with both halves given full value.
- Russian
Russian has no aʊ diphthong, so it is assembled from two vowels.
- Arabic
Arabic has an aw sequence in many varieties, so it transfers reasonably well.
- Turkish
Turkish has no true diphthongs, so the two halves separate.
Straight answers
Is /aʊ/ voiced or voiceless?
It is voiced. Put a hand on your throat and say it: you should feel a buzz the whole time. All English vowels are voiced, so the question only really separates the consonants.
What words start with the OW sound?
Common ones include out, our, hour. In the middle of a word you get house, town, around, and at the end now, how, cow. Every one of those links to its own pronunciation page here.
How is /aʊ/ spelled in English?
It is written "ou", "ow", "ough". English spelling and English sound came apart centuries ago, so the same sound turns up under several spellings and the same spelling carries several sounds — which is why the sound, not the letter, is the thing to learn.
Why do Hindi & Urdu speakers find /aʊ/ hard?
Hindi and Urdu have an au-type vowel, so it transfers reasonably; the English version starts lower and ends more rounded.
Record the OW sound and see if it landed
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